Organised by Arts House Limited (AHL) and commissioned by the National Arts Council (NAC), the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) 2025 is here!
This year, the theme More Than Ever reflects the urgent need to come together in a divided world through the Arts—which as Festival Director Natalie Hennedige stated—serves as “a vital space in society that explores differences in opinions, accepts otherness and maintains the past, present, and future as entities that perpetually influence and shape each other”.
Building on the theme, six curation sub-themes therefore guide the festival and its programming: New Urban Realities; Classics Reinvented; History Reimagined; State of the Arts; We, International; and PRISM 48.
All in all, SIFA 2025 will feature a total of 15 commissioned local works—an unprecedented number never seen before in the festival’s history—including two works-in-progress first staged at SIFA 2024. Therefore, there’s a lot to unpack from this year’s lineup, so let’s get right into it!
New Urban Realities
SIFA Pavilion at Bedok Town Square
We begin the 2025 edition with the SIFA Pavilion. Located at Bedok Town Square, the site will bring performance and the public together through a series of works. These works will start from 16 May and last through all three weeks of SIFA 2025, thereby transforming the space into one that is built for collaboration, co-creation, and gathering through the medium of performance. Such works include:
The Sea and the Neighbourhood
SIFA’s opening performance will be The Sea and the Neighbourhood: a multidisciplinary work inspired by Bedok’s coastal heritage, neighbourhood charm, and modernity.
Anchored by a coral-inspired installation doubling as a stage, the presentation transforms the space into an artistic gathering of multidisciplinary expression featuring visual artist Wang Ruobing, composer Philip Tan, choreographer Christina Chan with Singapore Ballet, and video artist Brian Gothong Tan.
With a stacked cast like that, you’d surely not want to miss this large-scale work that captures the ebb and flow of Singapore’s past, present, and future.
⏰Dates: 16 to 18 May 2025 (7.30pm)
📍Location: Bedok Town Square
💲Price: Free
⏰Duration: 45 minutes
Beneath Tide, Running Water
Speaking of an installation, did you know that it is a piece of art too? Inspired by Singapore’s coral reefs and the nation’s ambitious reef restoration efforts, visual artist Wang Ruobing’s Beneath Tide, Running Water explores sustainability, climate resilience, and what it means to be a liveable island.
Known for her environmentally conscious works, Ruobing used algae and coral to represent the symbiotic relationship between artist and audience, thereby creating an urgent call for environmental awareness, a pressing issue that must be addressed now ‘more than ever’.
hello, is this working?
Next up, Singapore theatre company Drama Box’s hello, is this working? builds on its work-in-progress showing at SIFA 2024’s Tomorrow and tomorrow platform.
Ask yourself this: though work is a huge part of our lives, it’s rarely thought and talked about in public, why? What does work mean to each of us? What are our dreams and worries about work now and in the future?
If you’re interested in any of the questions above, you’ll be glad to know that through research and interviews with people from different walks of life, this interactive work addresses all of them by inviting audiences to reflect and challenge their societal narratives about labour, thus upholding the SIFA 2025’s theme in bringing performers and the public together through the infusion of art.
⏰Dates: 23 to 25 May 2025 (4pm)
📍Location: Bedok Town Square
💲Price: Free
⏰Duration: 3 hours
Little SIFA
In another initiative to cater to the new urban realities, Little SIFA returns for its second edition by setting up camp at Empress Lawn! This year, Little SIFA expands its scope to feature diverse art forms in its curated series of family-friendly programmes such as The House Between the Winds by Singaporean artist Yang Jie and The Finger Player’s adaptation of Animal Farm.
The House Between The Winds
Set within a kinetic soundscape installation and performance, this work recalls the plantations that gave Orchard Road its name and the selfless trees that sustained its people.
Witness a magnificent sailboat travelling across the Empress Lawn. Touch, feel and create as you go on a pilgrimage of memories through whimsical and playful interactive kinetic installations that take you on a journey through time and space. In The House Between The Winds, the sky’s the limit all thanks to Yang Jie.
As a sculptor who draws inspiration from the intricate world of objects—whether they be furniture, machines, processes, stories, or ideas—Yang breathes new life into discarded and forgotten relics, transforming repaired and found objects into kinetic artworks that come alive through interaction. Thus, do come to this event if you’re to engage with art that not only moves you but also moves along with you.
⏰Dates: 23 to 25 May 2025, 30 May to 1 June 2025
📍Location: Empress Lawn, Fullerton Rd
💲Price: Free
⏰Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Animal Farm (variation)
Finally, Animal Farm (variation), presented by The Finger Players, is a site-specific performance adapted from an excerpt from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
This 30-minute presentation invites audience members to get up close with life-sized puppets brought to life by some of Singapore’s best puppeteers, all while immersing themselves in the dramatic tension shaped by speech, music, and movement.
Founded in 1999, The Finger Players is also Singapore’s oldest contemporary puppetry theatre company, being invited to perform in places across Africa, Europe, and Asia. Therefore, when the time comes, don’t forget to catch one of Singapore’s more equal theatre companies free of charge at the Empress Lawn!
⏰Dates: 30 May to 1 June 2025 (7pm)
📍Location: Empress Lawn, Fullerton Rd
💲Price: Free
⏰Duration: 30 minutes
With that, these are just a few of the diverse performances available at both the SIFA Pavilion and Little SIFA. Though for the full list of programmes under the ‘New Urban Realities’ sub-theme, do check out its dedicated webpage!
Classics Reinvented
Animal Farm
And if 30 minutes of Animal Farm wasn’t enough, catch the full performance on an earlier date at the Drama Centre Theatre, where you’ll be able to witness the gritty details absent from the family-friendly programme, such as the stunning puppetry illustrations of brutality, conflict, and oppression.
Furthermore, you’ll also experience the full writing and directing genius of award-winning theatre veteran Oliver Chong, who transforms Animal Farm into a play of discordant harmony, adopting a darker, wittier, and more visceral treatment than the novel’s allegorical approach.
⏰Dates:
- 17 May 2025 (4pm and 8pm)
- 18 May 2025 (4pm)
📍Location: Drama Centre Theatre, 100 Victoria St, #03-01 National Library / Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, Singapore 188064
💲Price: S$48 (Cat 2), S$68 (Cat 1)
⏰Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Do note however that this is a paid performance and tickets sell fast, so head over—with two legs, not four—to the ticketing website while they’re are still available!
LEAR
Man. Father. Fool. In this modern adaptation of a Shakespearean classic, step into the dark and claustrophobic world of King Lear, the all-powerful patriarch and yet also his own fool.
Directed by Ramesh Meyyappan’s trademark bold visual storytelling and performed by a cast of four, this contemporary performance promises to explore the universal themes of escalating madness, loss of power, betrayal and trust with empathy, and what it means to understand the human conditio
⏰Dates:
- 23 to 24 May 2025 (4pm and 8pm)
- 25 May 2025 (4pm)
📍Location: SOTA Studio Theatre, 1 Zubir Said Dr, Singapore 227968
💲Price: S$48
⏰Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
Don’t miss the vividness of Shakespeare’s dialogue and Ramesh’s eclectic mix of visual and physical theatre styles, purchase your tickets today!
History Reimagined
A Thousand Stitches
A moving story of friendship, heartbreak and loss told through a blend of performance, painting and live cinema. As a haunting reimagining of a difficult chapter in Singapore’s history, A Thousand Stitches explores the transgenerational impact of war and the necessity of hope and how it’s needed more than ever in the darkest of times.
As the stage play begins, you’ll meet Emma, an art conservation student who one day is transported deep into the heart of Syonan-to whilst restoring a portrait of a Japanese woman, Mizuki. From there, witness Emma slowly stitch the lives of Mizuki with that of Huang Wei, the portrait artist, amidst the storms that raged in and around them.
Created by artist-curator Alan Oei and writer-director-performer Kaylene Tan, A Thousand Stitches stars multi-genre actress Xuan Ong and Japanese actress Mihaya Shirata, thus presenting a unique collaboration between both multidisciplined producers and performers.
⏰Dates:
- 23 May 2025 (8pm)
- 24 May 2025 (3pm and 8pm)
- 25 May 2025 (3pm)
📍Location: SOTA Studio Theatre, 1 Zubir Said Dr, Singapore 227968
💲Price: S$48
⏰Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
This production will be performed in both English and Japanese, with English subtitles provided. For more information and ticketing details, check out the play’s dedicated webpage.
Umbilical
In Umbilical by Rizman Putra, Zul Mahmod, and thesupersystem, the story of an island unfolds across time. This narrative navigates through the interplay between natural forces and human ingenuity, whilst also drawing poignant parallels with the looming uncertainty of those who lived through Singapore’s separation from Malaysia.
A dynamic blend of movement, music, visual projections, and AI integration; Umbilical delves into the intricacies of identity, belonging, and relationships, with its namesake serving as an evocative metaphor that bridges water and land, people and places, past and present.
⏰Dates:
- 16 to 17 May 2025 (8pm)
- 18 May 2025 (3pm)
📍Location: SOTA Studio Theatre, 1 Zubir Said Dr, Singapore 227968
💲Price: S$48
⏰Duration: 1 hour
Come watch this multi-sensorial performance that magnifies the tension between human and machine, tradition and innovation, by getting your tickets today.
State of the Arts
COLONY – A True Colors Project
Diverse dancers from Southeast Asia and Japan create the imagined world of a colony through dance and movement, each expressing their personal challenges and aspirations beyond their limitations and comfort zones.
Though they live in enforced proximity next to each other, they each exist as separate entities distanced by prejudice, ignorance, and fear. Given however that a colony’s survival hinges on utilising its members’ differences, how will this group, together yet divided, fare against the tests of the natural world?
Find out in COLONY – A True Colors Project, the result of an intense collaborative experiment between the artistic director, choreographer, composer, film director, dancers, and designers in organically painting a narrative in dance, music and film.
⏰Dates:
- 30 to 31 May 2025 (8pm)
- 1 June 2025 (3pm)
📍Location: Drama Centre Theatre, 100 Victoria St, #03-01 National Library / Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, Singapore 188064
💲Price: S$38 (Cat 2), S$48 (Cat 1)
⏰Duration: 1 hour
Get your seats today via the ticketing website, which also offers more information about this truly creative journey.
Hossan-AH! In The High Arts
Now, here’s something more light-hearted for a change! Join the OG Singapore Boy Hossan Leong in an extraordinary theatrical experience that weaves four decades of artistic evolution of someone who lived through it all.
Be amazed as Hossan does everything—acting, singing, stand-up—whilst taking you on his personal journey through Singapore’s own cultural awakening. From being a church pianist to one of the nation’s most versatile entertainers, experience beloved songs reimagined and hilarious personal anecdotes about those moments of despair which shape our artistic identity.
⏰Dates:
- 30 to 31 May 2025 (8pm)
- 1 June (3pm)
📍Location: Victoria Theatre, 9 Empress Pl, Singapore 179556
💲Price: S$48 (Cat 2), S$68 (Cat 1)
⏰Duration: 1 hour
Don’t miss this uniquely Singaporean celebration of every artist, arts lover, and dreamer that has contributed to the nation’s creative soul. Get your tickets today!
Waiting For Audience
An old theatre is on its last night. Two actors, A and O, find themselves sharing the stage. They bicker, compete, create, wonder, and wait…and wait, and wait.
But will the audience ever come? Find out in Waiting For Audience, a playful yet profound production that employs physical theatre, clowning, absurdist humour, and Chinese cross-talk to challenge our understanding of the bond between performers and spectators.
If this sounds right up your alley, come join Nelson Chia and Mia Chee, founders of Nine Years Theatre, in celebrating the power of live performance at SIFA 2025 to connect you and me.
⏰Dates:
- 30 May 2025, 8pm
- 31 May 2025, 3pm and 8pm
📍Location: SOTA Studio Theatre, 1 Zubir Said Dr, Singapore 227968
💲Price: S$48 (Cat 2), S$68 (Cat 1)
⏰Duration: 1 hour
Do note that this theatre experience will be conducted in Mandarin and feature some mild coarse language, though if you’re fine with both and are prepared to play your role as an audience member, secure your tickets today!
stray gods
Inspired by an ancient text and incorporating the dying songs and language of her heritage, weish—whose true name is Chew Wei Shen—presents a new body of work titled stray gods that builds upon and looks beyond her signature sonic palette to discover new approaches to storytelling through music.
As a Singaporean artist whose practice spans composition, performance, music directing, dramatic writing and sound design, weish is a woman of many talents. Apart from her countless contributions to the local Arts scene, her compositions have taken her around the globe, from Sundance Film Festival to the Golden Melody Awards, all the way to the Oscars shortlist for Best Music in the film Shirkers.
⏰Dates: 30 May to 1 June 2025 (8pm)
📍Location: SOTA Studio Theatre, 1 Zubir Said Dr, Singapore 227968
💲Price: S$48
⏰Duration: 1 hour
So if you can, do check out this incredible artist at stray gods! Tickets are on sale now.
We, International
HOME
Not to be confused with the National Day song of the same name, HOME by US-based creator Geoff Sobelle is a moving meditation on the relentless passage of time and a breathtaking spectacle of illusion, choreography, music, and storytelling that explores the everyday drama of what makes a house a home.
A visual and physical spectacle, this international work combines dance, illusion, live music, homespun engineering, and inventive audience interaction to construct a work that asks, “Where is home? If it is not a place, what is home?” to awaken us to the current housing dilemmas, both local and global.
⏰Dates:
- 22 to 23 May 2025 (8pm)
- 24 May 2025 (2pm and 8pm)
- 25 May 2025 (2pm)
📍Location: Victoria Theatre, 9 Empress Pl, Singapore 179556
💲Price: S$48 (Cat 2), S$68 (Cat 1)
⏰Duration: 1 hour 50 minutes
Embark on a thematic journey through the theatre’s house as a lens, examining the forces at work in making a house a home, and purchase your tickets now.
Told By My Mother
In the second chapter of his trilogy on love, Lebanese choreographer Ali Chahrour draws from his own family history and in torn-up Lebanon to weave a tapestry of touching stories. At the heart of it, Told By My Mother focuses on the tales that form an infinite of love and loss, as well as the fierce intensity of maternal love that burns in every single story.
These heart-rending narratives—acted out by Ali Chahour and actress Hala Omran—are also accompanied by songs from Ali and Hout Abed Kobeissy of Two or The Dragon. Their music, inspired by Arab culture as much as urban sounds, blends movement and song to evoke the unfathomable love between a mother and her child.
⏰Dates:
- 16 May 2025 (8pm)
- 17 May 2025 (4pm and 8pm)
📍Location: Victoria Theatre, 9 Empress Pl, Singapore 179556
💲Price: S$38 (Cat 2), S$48 (Cat 1)
⏰Duration: 1 hour 10 minutes
So, if you’re searching for an experience that truly showcases the infinite beauty of filial relations, get a seat for you and your mother today at Told By My Mother. Do note that this piece is performed in Arabic with English subtitles provided.
Vampyr
For SIFA 2025’s final international programme, Vampr by Chilean playwright and theatre director Manuela Infante is the third mockumentary in a series dedicated to exploring the non-human. This time, it is about stubborn shapeshifting creatures—half-dead, half-alive, half-animal, half-human—that just refuse to obey the line between man and myth.
Specifically, Vampr is a work of delirious black humour about the relationship between the animals that inhabit our territories and how we treat them in the pursuit of our own future.
Set in Chile’s unregulated wind turbine parks, an imagined mythology of South American vampires working night shifts here establishes an ironic yet critical dialogue between the European vampire myth and the reality of the Chilean hematophagous bat—a species decimated by wind turbines—thus presenting a critical perspective on green neo-colonialism.
⏰Dates:
- 23 May 2025 (8pm)
- 24 May 2025 (8pm)
- 25 May 2025 (2.30pm)
📍Location: Drama Centre Theatre, 100 Victoria St, #03-01 National Library / Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, Singapore 188064
💲Price: S$38, S$48
⏰Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Do be advised that this programme will be performed in Spanish with English subtitles provided, with some mild coarse language. Other than that though, If you’re interested in learning more about how countries get away with colonisation under the guise of going green, do check this bleak yet cheeky play out!
PRISM 48
Finally, SIFA 2025 will feature PRISM 48, a conversation series curated by writer, editor, and producer Hong Xinyi.
Titled to reflect the multifaceted perspectives shaping Singapore’s evolving cultural identity anchored on shared arts and culture, PRISM 48 explores our understanding of ourselves, our region, and where our nation fits in the global arts scene.
From topics such as ‘Why Make Festivals’ and ‘When does the traditional become classical’ to ‘How do we talk amongst ourselves’ and ‘Should festivals still be incubators’, engage with a diverse range of questions and collaborate with fellow artists to reframe cultural narratives through the performing arts and beyond.
⏰Date: 31 May 2025 (from 2pm)
📍Location: The Arts House, 1 Old Parliament Ln, Singapore 179429
💲Price: Free
And with that, we’ve come to the end of the SIFA 2025 coverage. However, do note that the early bird tickets for SIFA 2025—which offer audiences savings of 20%—have already started, so be sure to take advantage of this limited-time offer by 14 April 2025!
For more information about SIFA 2025, please visit the official SIFA website to find out more! Lastly, follow #SIFA2025 on its Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube to catch the latest festival happenings. See you at SIFA 2025!
Visuals courtesy of Arts House Limited, Brian Gothong Tan, Drama Box, Niall Walker, Hillarie Jason, Pierre Gondard, and Franco Barrios.